When will they start to play?

Ethan is 3y 4m and Rory is 2 at the end of January. They are driving me absolutely wild. Unless the TV is on they are grizzling and moaning. They won't play, despite having lots of toys and puzzles. I'm tired of shouting at them! All they do is pull things off shelves, or climb to reach higher things. I guess I can expect that from Rory, but Ethan?

They're not happy unless I'm doing something with them 24/7. I try to spend as much time as I can with them, but I just can't be with them all the time. This morning we got up at 7:30am. I had half an hour on the computer as today is payday and I had to log on to the banks and check them over. Since then I have simply cooked breakfast, sorted out the dishes and had a quick tidy up, sorted all our clothes and gotten us all washed and dressed. I need to clean the bathroom and hoover upstairs.

I just feel constantly guilty, and I feel like I must be such a bad mother. Ethan keeps coming up to me and saying "Will you come and play with me now please?". What am I supposed to do or say?

that's really hard... i have no advice as my DD is only 1 but she is very needy too. i have to take her out every day or else she's climbing the walls and gets tired of all her toys and the surroundings. it's hard when it's holidays so no mum and baby groups!

I set a "set" playtime so for 1 hour we both knew it was playtime and he had 30 mins in the evening with DH we also have song and story time before lunch other than that we are pretty instructured.
Of a day I don't bother hoovering upstairs or cleaning the bathroom if it gets done great but I only bother when they are asleep. Other than that I do it when DH comes in. I use to but my mum said to me once when I look back I don't regret having to wash the floor at 10 at night when you were young cause we have played all day but I do regret not spending time with your brothers because I was busy cleaning. Yes the house drives me mad but hubby is great at helping he does all the ironing and makes dinner at the weekends and he changes the sheets puts tw nappies on to wash ect.
As for climbing for things I know this one well I moved everythjng to either at his high or out of sight.
Don't beat yourself up we're all doing our best.
Have a great Christmas

My 2 are just starting to play together quite nicely now. Zach is 5 and Imogen is 2. I think it more Imogen than Zach, she just doesn't understand the games that Zach wants to play and he has been getting very frustrated with it.

I've recently noticed that Imogen seems much more able to invent games and play by herself whereas Zach seems to need to be told what to play and guided into it. He definately prefers to play with someone which adds to his frustration with Imogen I suppose.

I have found the last few months quite difficult if I'm honest with them spending a lot of time screaming at each other or being destructive, Zach seems to act younger and make a lot of silly 2 year old noises I can see the light now though, they are having longer spells of being 'nice'.

My DD1 is 3y2m. I made her a clock because she would ask me every minute if she could watch tv . It took some time but she now knows when she can watch tv and if she asks I let her look at the clock and if it's not time yet it's oke, she will go and play some more. It also tells when we eat, sleep and have some sweet's (another thing she would ask for almost every minute )
She likes knowing when the things she like's are going to happen and that it will happen. (if that makes sence)
Have you tried putting some toys away? Some times there's to much to choose from and they end up doing nothing.

Such a good idea!!

My DD1 is 3y2m. I made her a clock because she would ask me every minute if she could watch tv . It took some time but she now knows when she can watch tv and if she asks I let her look at the clock and if it's not time yet it's oke, she will go and play some more. It also tells when we eat, sleep and have some sweet's (another thing she would ask for almost every minute )
She likes knowing when the things she like's are going to happen and that it will happen. (if that makes sence)
Have you tried putting some toys away? Some times there's to much to choose from and they end up doing nothing.

It's not easy trying to entertain two small children while keeping house, the two are full time jobs each in their own right! My two get on rather well and play together quite a bit (well it's mostly Molly ordering Daragh around but he seems to enjoy it ) which I'm very thankful for, as Molly has recently been more demanding of me to play games with her all the time. I do the minimum of housework most days, although this does mean it all builds up and then DH gets twitchy I try to have half an hour of actual play in the morning with them, then another half hour after tea-time, then they get pointed in the direction of the toybox. Sometimes DH can squeeze in some play with them too, which means I can run round the house like a madwoman straightening out the place a bit!

It's a busy time of year though when there is so much added to the constant demands on your time, but you need to enjoy it too. As always, I find just getting out of the house helps, to see friends, go for a walk, or to the park/soft play. Hopefully next week they'll have some new toys to keep them occupied for a while!

I love that clock idea!

Thanks all, I think I'm just expecting too much from them by the sounds of things. I'm glad of that though, as it gives me hope that it'll get better. I love that clock idea too!

I'm definitely making one of those clocks!!